Dehradun, February 1
Most children studying in government schools in Uttarakhand are unable to do simple arithmetic sums and the absence of separate toilets continues to be a major hindrance for girl students.

Though the overall learning level of children in Uttarakhand continues to be above the national average, it has not been able to make rapid gains and consolidate its performance vis-a-vis its neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh that has taken a lead in several key areas.

Even the reputation that most government schools have when it comes to having a good grasp over basic mathematics is gradually on the wane. In the primary government schools covered under a survey, 55 per cent of Class V students failed to clear simple arithmetic tests, particularly sums of division. Only 32 per cent of the students of Class I, 10 per cent of Class II, 5 per cent of Class III and only 3 per cent of Class IV could recognise numerals from 1-9. The gap between boys and girls is very thin with boys leading marginally over girls in doing sums of division.

These are the findings of the Fifth Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) that was released recently by Pratham, a non-government organisation (NGO).

“While the neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh has made a big leap forward, the performance of Uttarakhand schools as per our survey in terms of learning and infrastructure development has been woefully slow,” said Dr Wilima Wadhwa, Director, ASER.

While evaluating the results of the study undertaken over a period of five years, it was found that of the 275 schools (Classes I-IV/V) of primary schools ) in the state, 40 per cent did not have provision for separate toilets for girls, 11 per cent of the toilets were locked and 26.5 per cent of the toilets did not have water supply. The organisation conducted studies on primary and upper schools.

In all 14.6 per cent of the schools (primary school) covered under the survey had facilities of water and toilet while the equally number 13.4 per cent had the facility, but no water. Across the period beginning from 2005-09, the state of facilities had remained the same.

Further, 72.4 per cent of the children in the age group of 6-14 years are studying in schools while 68.1 per cent of children aged three years attend anganwadis.

The survey was carried out in October-November last year. A total of 375 villages, 7,500 household, 345 primary schools and 15,000 children were surveyed. One government school with primary grades was visited in each sampled village. If there was more than one government school in a village, then the school with the highest enrolment was visited. Hence, the schools visited under the survey did not represent a random sample of schools of the district. The school visits were generally done either on Saturdays or Mondays and facilitated by local coordinators.

In the primary government schools covered under a survey, 55 per cent of Class V students failed to clear simple arithmetic tests, particularly sums of division. Only 32 per cent of the students of Class I, 10 per cent of Class II, 5 per cent of Class III and only 3 per cent of Standard IV could recognise numerals from 1-9

Dehradun, February 1
The National Rainfed Area Authority’s pilot study project has come Uttarakhand’s way. The Mussoorie Forest Division is among the chosen few forest areas in the country that have been identified for the authority’s pilot study management of fringe forests and adjoining non-forest lands for ecological, water, food, livelihood security and sustainability.

The Union Ministry of Agriculture’s Rainfed Area Authority has identified six forest project sites in the country which, apart from Uttarakhand’s Mussoorie Forest Division, includes Sabarkantha Forest Division in Gujarat, Aurangabad Forest Division in Maharashtra, Vellore Forest Division in Tamil Nadu, Kanchanpur Forest Division in Tripura and Raipur East Forest Division in Chhattisgarh.

The project amount for the Mussoorie Forest Division, pegged at Rs 250 lakh, is the highest among the divisions.

The project that encompasses Ringali Gad micro-watershed falls under Kempty Range and is a micro-watershed of Aglar sub-watershed which is at a distance of 13 km from Mussoorie on the Mussoorie-Yamunotri National Highway.

Ringali Gad micro-watershed covers 1,231 hectares, which includes 559 hectares of reserved forests, 403 hectares of agriculture land, 251 hectares of civil and 17 hectares of van panchayats.

The altitude of the project area ranges from 900 m to 2,000 m with more than 80 per cent of the area falling in slope range of 10 to 30 per cent while the rest 20 per cent is in more than 30 per cent slope range.

Six villages fall under this micro-watershed namely Banglow ki Kandi, Sainji, Chamiya, Jethu ki Kandi, Banogi and Bhatoli villages. These villages are approachable from Kempty Yamunotri motor road.

BP Gupta, Conservator of Forests, Yamuna Circle, under whose jurisdiction falls the Mussoorie Forest Division, expressed happiness over the development.

“It is certainly a matter of honour for the Uttarakhand Forest Department to bag a Rainfed Area Authority’s project that too getting selected for among six project sites in the country,” said BP Gupta.

While 30 per cent of the amount for the project will be released at the signing of the agreement in the very first year of study, the second instalment of 40 per cent will be provided in second year after the utilisation of the earlier instalment.

The balance 30 per cent of the fund will be released in third year in two instalments of 20 per cent and 10 per cent.

Project activities will encompass entry-point activities, watershed activities, forest development works and livelihood interventions.

These include baseline survey, formation of joint forest management committees, construction of contour trenches, bench terracing, vegetative check dams, plantation of indigenous grasses and also eco-tourism and bird-watching activities.

Artificial insemination, vaccination, hybrid cattle and honeybee-keeping are also part of the project activities.

Dehradun, February 1
A week-long girls’ camp organised at DBS PG College under the National Service Scheme Chapter concluded here today.

The function was organised at Arya Samaj Mandir. In a seven-day camp, students were given lectures to improve their personality and hygiene standards. Under the guidance of Dr AS Uniyal, Dr Nirmala Kauranga, Mahima Srivastava, Dr Prashant Singh, Balbeer Nautiyal and other specialists from the field of medicine participated to impart health-related knowledge.

Heera Singh Bisht and state minister Vijaya Bhartwal presided over the ceremony.

“These kind of informative camps are very beneficial for the over-all development of students, who are future of the nation,” said Bhartwal.

Bisht also congratulated the participants for their efforts and encouraged them to be optimistic for their future plans.

Convener of the camp Dr Alka Suri helped students to participate in poster, mehndi and rangoli competitions and also encouraged them to pen down their ideas on female foeticide. In these competitions, the first position was bagged by Ambika Rautela, the second by Chandni, Manisha, Ayushi and Priya Kothiyal. Many other girls were also awarded prizes for their innovation.

The programme was hosted by renowned speaker Dr SK Gupta. However, area counsellor Jeevan Singh also promised to soon repair the floor of the mandir.

Dehradun, February 1
Heritage School organised a farewell ceremony for Class XII students here today.

After a warm welcome by students of Class XI, teachers and other members of the school greeted the students and then invited them to enjoy a grand feast.

The students relished delicacies and post lunch there was a Mr and Miss ISC competition. The first position in the Mr ISC category was bagged by Manish Chauhan, the second by Tushar Mathur and the third by Manu Singh.

In the Miss ISC category, Tanya Jain won the first position, Shivi Bhatt the second and Manmeet Kaur the third.

In the dance performance, Ashish Goyal and Tanya Jain bagged the first position. Students thoroughly enjoyed the function and the farewell concluded with the Principal’s good wishes for their future.

Dehradun, February 1
Perturbed senior Congress leader Rajendra Singh Gurung has railed against the president of the Ex-servicemen State Congress Committee.

He said, “Ten years have passed since the committee was formed, but the same president has been ruling the association since then. The committee couldn’t flourish due to incapability of its president”.

He also asserted that to wrap up the inability, the present president had sacked many officials without any valid reason. Emphasising his contention, he further said the ex-servicemen committee had always been the weak point of the Congress party.

Gurung has made a plea to the high command giving them the right to choose their desired candidate rather than imposing officials and president for the committee forcefully.

Moreover, on the basis of his long experience in the Army and the political party, Gurung has requested to appoint Lal Chand Sharma as the president who would actively participate in the committees work. 

Dehradun, February 1
Superb seven-wicket hall by Rajneesh helped the PBL team register a 144 runs against DRCA at the 58th District Cricket League underway at the Survey of India here today.

Harender of the PBL team played a scintillating innings of 83 runs off 82 balls. He smashed five fours and two sixes. Opener Lokesh and Ravi gave a fine start to the team and scored 30 runs off 32 balls and 15 runs, respectively.

Rajeev too made an important contribution for the team. He scored 28 runs off 42 balls. The team was all out for 237 runs in 40 overs.

Ravi ripped through the top order batsman. He claimed three wickets in his eight over spell to give his team a good start. Sanjeev claimed two wickets.

Chasing the victory target of 238 runs, the DRCA team could only manage to score 80 runs. It was a superb bowling display by Rajneesh who created havoc in DRCA batting line up and claimed seven wickets in his six over spell.

For the DRCA team Neeraj was the only batsman who scored some runs for the team. He made 29 runs.

Meanwhile, in the second match, the OTCC team registered a 16 runs victory over the LIC team. OTCC team scored 194 runs in 30 overs. In reply, LIC was all out for 179 runs in 30 overs.

Dehradun, February 1
After the city veterans’ outstanding performance at the state level now, youngsters of Doon made the state proud by giving exceptional performance at the National Sub-junior Badminton Tournament.

The sub-junior team reached the quarterfinals and the pre-quarterfinal of the tournament.

Vaibhav Chauhan, in particular, played exceptionally well at the tournament. “This was my first big tournament. I was bit nervous before going in for the tournament, but later I got comfortable with my game and sailed well at the tournament,” said Vaibhav.

Vaibhav had reached the pre-quarterfinal in the singles.

His coach Deepak Rawat was very optimist about Vaibhav’s performance.

He said Vaibhav had come up well in a shot span of time and is expected to do well in future at the national level.

Vaibhav, along with his brother Vyom, had reached the quarterfinals in the doubles. This too was an achievement for the city children, who had reached at such a level for the first time. Another player Ujjawal Dobhal too reached the main draw of the tournament.